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Wednesday, 29 March 2017

Multiverse 101: Who Is Abra Kadabra?

Last night on The Flash, a new villain from the 64th Century popped over to Central City and began stealing all sorts of mysterious tech. Calling himself Abra Kadabra, he claimed to have had a long-standing relationship with The Flash and even went so far as to tease that he knew the true identity of the speedster god known as Savitar.

Just who is this mystical magician from the future? Who is Abra Kadabra?

Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, Abra Kadabra first appeared in the pages of The Flash #128 back in May 1962. The character comes from the 64th century, at a time when science has made stage magic obsolete. Desiring a career as a stage magician, Abra steals a time machine and begins searching for an audience worth entertaining. It isn't long before he clashes with The Scarlet Speedster. When Barry Allen arrives to stop one of his crimes, Abra uses a special hypnotic device that forces The Flash to clap uncontrollably, thus allowing the time-traveler to escape. Realizing that his magic is being overlooked, Abra decides to involve himself in important historical events and starts causing all kinds of problems. Eventually, he is captured by The Flash and thrown into prison. Not long after, Abra uses a special device to hypnotize the Governor, who lets him out of jail.

Over the course of his time in DC Comics, Abra has made life difficult for Barry Allen on more than one occasion. The time-traveler has used his futuristic technology to send The Flash into space, and was even successful in transforming The Fastest Man Alive into a wooden puppet. However, each time Abra has been defeated.

In one of his many confrontations with Barry Allen, Abra Kadabra's technology is damaged. This causes the villain's body to become insubstantial, however he is soon able to return his body to normal. Shortly after, Abra is captured by a bounty hunter by the name of Peregrine, and returned to his native century to serve a death sentence.

Before he can be executed however, Abra is rescued by The Flash.

Abra Kadabra eventually returns to the 21st Century and tricks five rogues into selling their souls to Neron so he can gain genuine magical powers. He then kidnaps Linda Park, the girlfriend of Wally West, during their wedding and ends up erasing her from history. However, with some help from Walter West, Wally's counterpart from an alternate dimension, Abra is defeated once again and Linda restored to her proper place in time.

During the events of Infinite Crisis, Abra becomes a member of the Secret Society Of Super Villains. A year later, he is approached, along with several other villains, by Inertia who claims to have a plan to kill The Flash - then Bart Allen. Though Inertia is eventually defeated, Abra and his fellow villains end up beating Bart to death.

Abra has shown up in DC Universe: Rebirth, where he makes all kinds of trouble for the Teen Titans. The character was last seen being attacked by Professor Zoom in The Flash: Rebirth.

A rather unique villain, that's for sure!

The DC TV version is currently in the hands of the relentless Collector known as Gipsy, making his way back to Earth-19 to serve up a death sentence. Could this be the last time we see Abra Kadabra on the small screen, or will Barry be rescuing the time-traveling showman before time runs out?